Review - Show - Gnarls Barkley @ Sherman’s Meadow (9/16/06)

As part of the Alice’s Now and Zen concert set in Golden Gate Park, Gnarls Barkley turned the heat-beset audience from lackadaisical to lascivious. The pastiche set included many covers from music’s greats, including The Violent Femmes, as well as this summer’s hits, Crazy and Smiley Faces, off their album St. Elsewhere. Frontmen Cee-lo and Danger Mouse came out in red karate uniforms while their backup dressed in white. The “g-strings”, as Cee-lo fondly reffered to the all female string section, sounded amazing. The guitarist and bassist both had some pretty unique dance moves to add to the performance. But really, it’s all about Cee-lo and his ability to shine into everyone watching him. He talked a lot about universal love and pulled off some daring comments like “Come on people, I don’t want to see you just staring at me” and “I’m gonna have fun up here today, how about you?”. His words forced the mom and pop/ son and daughter audience to wake up and groove. Persnoally, having gone to so many small-venue shows as of late I noticed the loss of intimacy at the show. But I was really impressed with how well Cee-lo handled it. Besides the hits and the wacked out tune The Boogie Monster, the shows highlight was a section entitled “vanity fair” in which Cee-lo listed off his better qualities. He said “I can sing” (giving the just-a-little gesture with finger and thumb), “I can rap” (again the gesture with fans ululating), and “I’m pretty talented (dead pause) I’m not lucky people”. I thought that line was pretty tight, seeing how it is kind of a stigma concerning pop artists. Hardcore man. To see and hear the Smiley Faces video just click on my bro Tracy’s blog Bucktooth Mechanics in my links section.